It is well-known to provide protective garments to personnel working in or near a radioactive environment, to health care workers operating x-ray equipment or working in radiology laboratories. Generally, such radiation shield garments are extremely heavy because they include one or more layers of lead sheet material to provide the desired protection. Extended use of such garments may become burdensome and tiring to the wearer with extended use. This is particularly true when the weight of the garment is borne primarily and/or unremittingly by the wearer's shoulders and neck. For example, persons exposed to x-rays typically wear aprons and/or other apparel made from material having a large lead and/or other heavy metal content, designed to absorb harmful radiation to which the user might otherwise be exposed. Such aprons may weigh in the range of about 8 to about 25 pounds. Since users (or wearers), such as x-ray technicians, radiologists, etc. frequently have to wear them for extended periods of time, they often become tiring and even painful, particularly when the sole or primary support is substantially or constantly one portion of the wearer's body. The shoulders, because of their physiological structure and their relatively high position on the body as a whole, are particularly susceptible to these effects.
Consequently, a support frame to be worn by the wearer which alleviates the problems inherent in extended use of protective radiation shield garments as described previously is needed.